By Chukwudi Nweje
Dr. Benson Enikuomehin, SAN, is grounded in the politics of Ondo State, having contested the Senatorial election before, and served three successive governors of the state in the current democratic dispensation. He was the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Olusegun Agagu on Policy Planning, Implementation, and Special Duties.>>>>READ FULL ARTICLE>>>>
During the administration of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, he was nominated to represent Ondo State on the governing board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). and afterwards, he served the immediate past Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, of blessed memory, as Senior Special Assistant on Oil and Gas for about one year before he voluntarily resigned. In this interview, he dissects the politics of Ondo State, the forthcoming November 16 off-cycle governorship election, and other issues.
The Off-season governorship election will come up in Ondo State on November 16, what is your assessment of the intrigues ahead of the primaries of the two major parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
The events happening in Ondo State now necessitate that we should speak out. We cannot keep quiet and watch events go awry because if you keep quiet when you need to speak, you may have to speak when you ought not to. But when you speak at the right time, things may be averted. We cannot allow the state to drift. When Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of blessed memory, was sick, and indisposed, some persons in the state were manipulating his ailment, we spoke out.
I was everywhere saying that there is a joint ticket between the governor and his deputy, that once the governor is incapacitated, or sick, or cannot perform the functions of his office, it becomes automatic that his deputy must take over. More so, it was the governor that chose his deputy. So, we stood our ground and thanks to the goodness of the things we said, the authorities in Abuja reasoned along our line, and asked the legislators to confer on the deputy governor the power of acting as governor. It was not too long after that Akeredolu passed on, and then the deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa became governor.
The two major political parties, namely APC and PDP, have chosen the pattern of their primary elections. For the APC, it is going to be a direct primary, and for the PDP, it appears they are going for an indirect primary. If this is the situation, what do we expect the political parties to do? The APC needs to put its house in order.
I hope that they will do it well and ensure that a reliable person is elected, we cannot afford to make mistakes because for now, Ondo State is not getting its best from the resources available to the state.
So, we must look for a credible, reliable, dependable individual.
What qualities do you expect the candidate to possess?
One, we should look at the antecedents of the individuals who are coming out. Two, we must look at their integrity, we should check how reliable they are, if this person says A, does it mean A? If he says B, does it mean B? If he says good morning, do we need to look at the sun to sure that it is morning and not night? We also need to look at their minimum qualifications to be sure that the person we are projecting can go to the comity of nations or comity of states and represent us well.
We will also look at his acceptability in the state, and how acceptable he is to win the election., is he trustworthy? Can the people in the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State trust this person? How much have we committed into his hand before? What did he do? Is he a greenhorn? Is he a neophyte? We cannot at this stage afford to vote for a greenhorn. No. Ondo State is of age. These and many others are the things we need to consider when we make a choice.
Is it by design that the the two major political parties, APC and PDP zoned the ticket to Ondo South?
The two political parties have done well, firstly, in zoning their governorship candidate to Ondo South. There are three Senatorial districts in Ondo State – Ondo North, Ondo Central, and Ondo South. In this dispensation, that is from 1999 till date, the following persons have taken charge of this state, our late father, Chief Adebayo Adefarati, from the North spent four years as Governor of Ondo State. Olusegun Agagu from the South took over from Adefarati, he completed his first term and was doing a second before he was removed by the court. Dr. Olusegun Mimiko from the Central took over. Dr. Mimiko was the first person who established that a governor could rule the state for two terms, it had never happened before in Ondo State. After his eight years, Mimiko tried to anoint another candidate from Ondo Central to succeed him but the people of the state revolted and voted Rotimi Akeredolu from the North. He completed his first term and was elected for a second term, sadly, death took him away so, he couldn’t complete the eight years, but he spent a total of almost seven years or thereabout.
Now, everyone in the state feels that since the Northern Senatorial district had it for almost 11 years between Adefarati and Akeredolu, Central had eight unbroken years under Mimiko, it would be wise, it would be reasonable to zone it to Ondo South. So, that is why virtually all the political parties agreed on that.
What is your easement of the aspirants?
The calibre of persons that came out this season in the two political parties are largely men of credibility, sound education, and men whose integrity may not be doubted.
However, when you write an examination, some persons will have third class, they have passed; Some will have second class lower division, they have passed; Some will have second class upper division, they passed, and yet, some will have first class. Even among the first class, some will still top the class. If we assess these men and look at who they are, what they have done, what they have achieved, what people say about them, which of them can we ask to go for us? The people of Ondo need to ask, among these men that have come up in APC, in PDP, who shall we send?
You talk as if you have a preferred candidate in mind.
In 2012, when Mimiko, Akeredolu and Chief Oke came for a debate as to who should be the governor of the state, the debate was tough but due to sentiments of allowing Mimiko to complete two terms, the people voted for Mimiko. When Mimiko left office, the people decided it should be the turn of Akeredolu and he was voted for two terms. Now only one man is left in that trio, and that is Chief Olusola Oke.
Chief Oke, holds an LLM, not only that, he is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He has contested this position three times before, I think this will be the fourth time now that he will be contesting.
Is that why Oke is running a campaign it’s my turn?
Olusola Oke is not campaigning that “it is my turn.” He has contested about three times in the past. For me, I will go for the better choice. If I were contesting for the position of the Governor of Ondo State, which I’m eminently qualified for, and Olusola Oke and I were to go into a contest, if I’m sincere with myself, I should step down from him, but I’m not contesting. Of all these persons who have shown interest in contesting for the governorship seat of Ondo state, Olusola Oke is the only one who is not holding government office. Every other person has to fall back on the resources of the state to be able to do it. Olusola Oke has risen to the peak of his career and is eminently qualified. But looking at it critically, if the North has had it for 11 years under Adefarati and Akeredolu, the Central had it for eight years under Mimiko and the South for six years under Agagu, now that it has come back to the South, morality and moral adoration can be used to plead, and say, gentlemen when your son was coming on board, we supported him, why not allow us?
The incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa is also from the South.
If Mr. Aiyedatiwa is a gentleman, he has what it takes to continue in the office, but will this serve the best interest of the people of the South, will the South not be short-changed? And that is fundamental, and that necessitates why we must educate our people. If Ondo South is to have eight years of unbroken governorship going by the convention already established from Mimiko to Akeredolu, then we must support Olusola Oke. But, the people of Ondo Central are playing one game, their game is to support the incumbent, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, why? Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa by the constitution of Nigeria as of now, can only contest one more governorship election, he has been sworn in. The law is that when you are sworn in to take over the remainder of the tenure of your boss, you can only contest for one more election.
That’s why you see a good number of them coming out and canvassing for Aiyedatiwa, it is not because of their love for the man. No. It is because their turn to have it will come sooner than later.
So, for the APC, the banana peel is on the ground that could enable the PDP to say, we are available, we can get you the eight years, and our people can be very, sentimental.>>>>READ FULL ARTICLE>>>>
